New Lake Road to close near dam

Part of New Lake Road will be closed temporarily during construction of a concrete slab bridge replacing rusted metal culverts that failed and don't support the road.

"The public will be notified when the road will be closed," Lewisburg-based engineer Jim Bingham said Friday, adding that the announcement will include an approximate time of the road closure.

"We will also notify the schools and emergency personnel," Bingham said.

Pipe replacement "is right below the dam for New Lake," he said.

Marshall County Roads Superintendent Jerry Williams and Bingham explained the situation late last week since bids were opened at the Highway Department on Wednesday.

The apparent best bidder is Cubers Inc. of Fayetteville. It bid $63,619, Bingham said. One other bid was received. It's from Jenkins & Jenkins of Centerville for $74,458.

Two oval metal pipes are no longer accommodating the flow of water under the road and the surface of the road is depressed, Bingham explained. The concrete slab bridge replacement will be wider for the road and therefore longer than the two culverts.

Construction is to be done "hopefully within three months," Bingham said. "We'll have to close the road to traffic.

"We've asked the contractor to expedite the work, and this contractor has always responded to our pleas for quick work," he said.

The average daily traffic on this part of New Lake Road has been counted at 483 vehicles per day, the engineer said, reporting from a document promulgated for the contract.

Asked if Cubers Inc. would hire Marshall County resdents for the job, Bingham replied that there would be "few, if any, but they will use local suppliers like Childress Concrete."

Detours for motorists on the west side of the bridge could use Globe or Collier roads.

"The main Lewisburg traffic would have to go by Globe Road," Bingham said.

Motorists on the east side of the bridge could use Hobo Shaw Road to get to Cornersville Road, the engineer said.

The New Lake Road bridge is a small project, but one of several near Lewisburg. Others include: A bridge for Greenwood Road's crossing of West Fork Spring Creek, a project completed last summer; and a project at Yell and Cheek roads that's still being designed, and for which bids might be let in the next couple of months.

"And the state tells us the London Road bridge will be let (for bidding) this winter," Bingham said.

Meanwhile, the highway superintendent says there's another federal grant of money to pay for creek bank stabilization so rushing water won't cause erosion under the surface of roads near a creek.